And it came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword: and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead.
As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch. Nisroch, a great eagle (Gesenius). The eagle was declared to be the form of this Assyrian god long before the discovery of the Ninevite monuments (Selden, 'De Diis Syris. Syntag.,' 2:, cap. 10:; Beyer, 'Addimenta,' p. 325); and conformably to that ancient belief, it was supposed that the eagle, or vulture-headed figure, which so frequently occurs among the sculptured remains, had a reference to some deified hero who was worshipped under that title-either Asshur, the founder and tutelary deity of Assyria (Rawlinson's 'Outlines,' p. 18), or Nimrod, whose personal qualities and pursuits were expressed by that rapacious bird (see 'Nineveh and its Remains,' 2:, p. 459; also 'Nineveh and Babylon,'
p. 637, note).
Asshur, however, the head of the Assyrian Pantheon, is not represented as a vulture headed figure-that is now ascertained to be a priest-but as a winged figure in a circle. No trace of Nisroch is found except in the present passage and the parallel one of Isaiah 37:38, and Sir H. Rawlinson has shown that there was no temple of Asshur in Nineveh. [The name, which does not occur in the Assyrian monuments, is variously given, being called by Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 10:, ch. 1:, sec. 3) Arascus (Eng., Arask); Septuagint, Vatican, Meserach; Alexandrine, esthrach; but in Isaiah the same version has: Nasarach . These various readings of the Septuagint version,' says Rawlinson ('Ancient Monuments,' 2:, p. 265) 'make it extremely uncertain what was the name actually written in the original Hebrew text.'] Nisroch, which is utterly unlike any divine name hitherto found in the Assyrian records, is most probably a corruption (see also Sir H. Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,'
b. 1:, 590), Josephus ('Antiquities, b. 10:, ch. 1:, sec. 3) says that Sennacherib was slain in his own temple, b. 1:, 590), Josephus ('Antiquities, b. 10:, ch. 1:, sec. 3) says that Sennacherib was slain in his own temple, which was called Araske.
Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword х 'Adramelek (H152), splendour of the king; Septuagint, Vatican, Adramelech; Alexandrine, Adremelech]. Berosus calls him Ardumusanus, and mentions him alone, doubtless as being the principal assassin. Moses Chorenensis ('Hist. Armen.,' 1:, 22) gives him the name of Adramelus in one passage, and that of Argamozanus in another. Eusebius ('Chr. Can. Pars prima,' cap. 5:, sec. 1), from Alexander Polyhistor, styles him Ardumuzanes, and (in Ditto, cap. 9:) from Abydenus, Adrameles. "Sharezer" х Sar'etser (H8272), prince of fire, according to Gesenius, who derives it from the Persic; Septuagint, Sarasar; Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 10:, ch. 1:, sec. 3), Seraser].
According to the monuments, the oldest son of Sennacherib was Asshur-inadi-su, the Asordanes of Polyhistor, and the Assaranadius of Ptolemy's canon, who, having been made governor of Babylon, might naturally have been expected, had he survived, to succeed his father on the throne of Assyria. In consequence of his death, the right of succession devolved on Nergilus (Nergal), who is supposed to have been the second son of Sennacherib, but whom Abydenus (Eusebius, 'Chr. Can. Pars,' 9:, already quoted) erroneously considers the father of Adrameles; and the king was slain by him. It appears from the monuments that Sennacherib had other three sons, Adrammelech, Sharezer, and Esarhaddon, the two first being full brothers, the last a half-brother. 'Perhaps,' says Rawlinson ('Ancient Monarchies,' 2:, p. 464), 'upon the death of Asshur-inadi-su, disputes arose about the succession.
Adrammelech and Sharezer, anxious to obtain the throne for themselves, plotted against the life of their father, and having slain him in a temple as he was worshipping, proceeded further to remove their brother Nergilus, who claimed the crown, and wore it for a brief space after Sennacherib's death. Having murdered him, they expected to obtain the throne without further difficulty; but Esarhaddon now came forward, and was favourably received. The murderers finding that they had miscalculated, quitted Assyria, and went into voluntary exile' (see also p. 43). Josephus says that they were expelled by the indignation of the people. This is a historical chain, ingeniously done by connecting the isolated facts recorded on the monuments, and it wears so strong an air of probability that it may be accepted as the true account of the motive and the object of the unnatural parricides. This murder, if a judgment upon Sennacherib personally (cf. 2 Kings 19:7), was at least equally a judgment on the empire over which he reigned. Sennacherib's temper, exasperated, probably by his reverses, displayed itself in the most savage cruelty and intolerable tyranny over his subjects and slaves. He intended to sacrifice his two sons to pacify the gods, and dispose them to grant him a return of prosperity, and that, it has been said, according to a horrid usage of pagan kings when their kingdoms were in desperate circumstances.
And they escaped into the land of Armenia, х 'AraaraaT (H780). The Septuagint in this passage renders eis geen Ararath; but in Isa. 38:38 , they have eis Armenian]. Jerome ('Commentary' on Isaiah 37:38) says, 'The land of Ararat is a region in the lowlands of Armenia, through which the Araxes flows, and distinguished by its extraordinary fertility. This region probably extended as far north as the river Cyrus, and embraced most of the country lying between the lakes Oormiah and Van (see also Rosenmuller's 'Biblical Geography,' vol. 1:, ch. 4:, sec. 7). Moses Chorenensis says that the two parricides, on their arrival in Armenia, were hospitably received by the sovereign of the country, who gave them possessions, and they became respectively founders of two large and influential families.
And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his stead х 'Eecar-Chadon (H634), gift of fire. Ezer enters largely into the composition of Assyrian proper names, being put sometimes at the beginning, sometimes at the end, of a word. Septuagint, Vatican, Asordan; Alexandrine, aradad; Josephus, Assarachoddas.] His claim to be the successor of his father may have arisen from his being the oldest son at the death of Sennacherib. The rumour that the great king of Assyria had fallen, and in so horrid a manner, would naturally produce a deep and universal sensation throughout contemporary nations. Among the people of Judah, who expected some awful judgment to befall so daring a blasphemer, it would be received with awe, mingled with thanksgiving for their deliverance, now at length complete. And accordingly, various direct references in the writings of contemporary prophets and others attest how intensely the national feelings were excited by the hand of God, so awfully displayed in the fate of Sennacherib.
The magnificent ode of Isaiah (Isaiah 14:1-32), on the fall of the great conqueror, who was called interchangeably 'the king of Assyria,' and "the king of Babylon," is felt to be exceedingly pointed and striking, if it be considered as composed immediately on the intelligence of his assassination reaching Jerusalem. And several psalms, believed to have had their origin at the time of the invasion, abound with facts and allusions which set before the imagination of the reader a vivid picture of the horrors of "that night." These are graphically grouped together by Dean Stanley in the following passage ('Lectures on the Jewish Church,' 38:): The weapons of the great army, such as we see them in the Assyrian monuments, the mighty bow and its lightning arrows, the serried shields (Isaiah 37:33; Psalms 76:3 (Heb.); also Psalms 46:9; Herodotus, 2:, 141; Layard's "Nineveh," 2:, pp. 340, 342) were shattered to pieces; the long array of dead horses (Psalms 76:6; Isaiah 37:36) (the Hebrew word always includes animals); the chariots now useless, left to be burnt (Psalms 46:9: cf. Isaiah 9:5; Lowth); the trophies carried off from the dead-all rise to view in the recollection of that night.
The proud have slept their sleep, and the mighty soldiers (Psalms 76:5; Psalms 46:10) fling out their hands in vain. The arms have fallen from their grasp. The neigh of the charger, the rattle of the chariot, are alike hushed in the sleep of death. The wild uproar is over; the whole world is silent (Psalms 76:8; Psalms 46:10), and in that awful stillness the people descend from the heights of Jerusalem (Psalms 46:8; Psalms 76:4-5), like their ancestors to the shores of the Red Sea, to see the desolation that had been done upon the earth. As then, they carried away the spoils as trophies. The towers of Jerusalem were brilliant with the shields (Psalms 76:4) of the dead. The fame of the fall of Sennacherib's host struck the surrounding nations with terror far and wide. It was like the knell of the great potentates of the world; and in their fall the God of Israel seemed to rise to a higher and yet higher exaltation (Psalms 46:10; Psalms 76:10-11).'